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VICKSBURG, Miss. – ERDC Information Technology Laboratory’s Dr. Bob Welch recently gave an overview of five National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Nanotechnology Signature Initiatives (NSI) for the National Research Council (NRC) NNI Review, and briefed the NSI Nanotechnology Knowledge Infrastructure (NKI) initiative.
Three NSIs were announced in May 2010; the NKI initiative was announced in May by Dr. John Holdren, National Science Adviser to President Obama. Holdren announced the fifth NSI, addressing nanoscale sensors, July 9. NSIs focus government agency attention on critical research needed for the U.S. to take advantage of nanotechnology for industry and government.
ERDC has a leadership role in nanotechnology research to advance civil engineering (CE) technology. Nanoscale phenomena controls or strongly influences technical areas for civil and military engineering (material strength/stiffness, corrosion/weathering, heat transfer, combustion/detonation physics, friction, coating performance, ice formation, fluid-structure interaction, and environmental degradation of contaminants, among others).
Nanotechnology provides a way to study phenomena at the molecular scale and ultimately nanoscale phenomena engineering for CE applications. Using nanotechnology, ERDC has developed a scalable fiber design for a fiber predicted to have a tensile strength to about 8.6 million psi, or about 86 times that of high-strength steel, and has discovered a new structural form of carbon nanotubes.
Additionally, ERDC is using Molecular Dynamics modeling and is advancing material synthesis methods to develop a lightweight “super” ceramic composite to replace structural aluminum and steel at one-third, or less, weight for the same stiffness or same strength.
The NNI serves as the central point of communication, cooperation, and collaboration for all federal agencies engaged in nanotechnology research, bringing together the expertise needed to advance this broad and complex field.